Alternative Energies

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

CONCERNS ABOUT energy security may run high elsewhere in Europe, but on the windswept Danish island of Samso the inhabitants have achieved a decade-long target of selfsufficiency in renewable power.

It’s a challenge their government set the island in 1997 and which has been largely funded through local taxes and individual investments, in one of Europe’s wealthier countries - Denmark’s GDP per capita was more than $35,000 in 2006.

Now the islanders have shown that where there’s a wind, there’s a way - and in the process mounted a global showcase for one of the prize export industries in Denmark, which is home to the world’s largest wind-turbine maker, Vestas.

“I often use Samso as an ambitious example of how to cope with the big challenges that our own country faces in the race to become independent of fossil fuels,” said Randy Udall, a U.S. energy sustainability activist.

Based in Colorado, Udall imports ideas from all over the world on how to make communities self-sufficient in energy. On Samso, which is home to just 4,000 people, wind turbines tower over green fields and rise from the choppy waters of the North Sea; rye, wheat and straw are used to heat the one-storey buildings and solar panels have sprouted on roof tiles.

“I think Samso has set an agenda for the climate issue and, alongside other projects, it has shown that this is possible,” said Soren Hermansen, director of the Samso Energy Academy and one of the project’s main drivers.

Without any construction subsidies, the islanders have invested 400 million Danish crowns ($84.35 million) - an average of more than $20,000 per citizen.“We invested $84 million - a big number for 4,000 people - but in reality it’s not a whole lot,” said islander Jorgen Tranberg, who describes himself as a milk producer who “owns a couple of turbines.” In Denmark’s geographical centre, Samso used to be best known for its early-season potatoes. Now 11 onshore wind turbines cover all local electricity demands and 70 per cent of the island’s homes are heated using biofuels or solar power. While some homes have opted to stay with oil furnaces for heating and cars are still common, the island has become carbon neutral by erecting 10 offshore wind turbines - in addition to the 11 on land - to offset the automobiles’ carbon emissions and those from the 30 per cent of homes still heated by oil.

“We even produce far more electricity than we need,” said Hermansen. The surplus is sold to the mainland. To promote windpower, the Danish government subsidises wind energy production to the tune of about 20 to 50 per cent of the final cost of power to consumers.

Beating the EU The islanders’ efforts dovetail with European Union policy but have gone much further than official targets. The European Union has committed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth by 2020 from 1990 levels, and to get one-fifth of all energy demand from renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass.Some islanders say the renewable project has been helped by developing as a grassroots venture rather than having targets and regulations imposed by a bureaucracy. “First of all you need determination and can-do spirit, and then you need an economic foundation to make it possible,” Tranberg said in the cockpit of his wind turbine.

Many islanders own shares in the onshore wind turbines, an investment that they originally hoped would pay back after eight to 10 years. A stronger-thanexpected wind - blowing 10-15 per cent more force than expected into the blades - cut the payback time and now Samso Energy Academy says a share in a wind turbine generates about 500 crowns per year in income.

“We held a lot of meetings, but we managed to do it because we hired good experts and trusted our own instinct,” said Tranberg, who bought one early turbine himself and then a second offshore one with a partner.

“What is intriguing about Samso is their ability to make this project a sport for them, to show that this can be done,” said the U.S. activist Udall.

There have been secondary benefits for islanders too: cement was needed to build the turbines’ foundations, solar panels had to be installed and homeowners began to demand better insulation.

This gave blacksmiths and cement workers a reason to stay on the island at a time of economic slowdown: five families moved in to take on new ‘renewable energy’ jobs.Overseas interest The project has attracted great overseas interest: ambassadors representing foreign countries in Denmark, on a recent trip to see Samso’s small towns driven by solar panel farms and wind power, were impressed.

“What we’re trying to learn is how to do it - how to achieve that level of energy renewable selfsufficiency that Samso and the community here have achieved,” said Frederica Gregory, Canadian ambassador to Denmark.

It has also helped draw attention to Denmark’s wind power prowess. Jutland-based Vestas last week reported a 67 per cent rise in its order backlog to over 7 billion euros, and estimated wind power will account for at least 10 per cent of global power output in 2020, from a little over 1 per cent today. This translates into annual growth of between 20 and 25 percent over the next 12 years.

“Using resources (that are) locally available and producing it in a way that is self-sufficient for the island while exporting green energy is something many nations would love to see,” said Slovenian ambassador Rudolf Gabrovec.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hydrogen fuel cells are basically a highly efficient battery. They are therefore only as clean and efficient as the electricity used to produce the hydrogen is. That said, even a coal fired powerplant gets way better efficiency than an internal combustion engine. If you move to zero emission generation technologies like nuclear, wind, solar, or tidal, then you've got a truly zero emission system.

I seem to recall that Honda at one point wanted to market this car with a home hydrogen generator that would double as a home fuel cell, to allow you to generate hydrogen when electricity is cheap and then use hydrogen to reduce your electricity use when it's more expensive, in addition to supplying hydrogen to the car.

Hydrogen storage is much much safer than it ever was. We're more than 70 years past the Hindenburg disaster, and the biggest thing we've learned? Don't store hydrogen in a highly flammable container. That's right, the Hindenburg was covered with a highly flammable fabric. There are now hundreds of fuel cell buses on the road across North America and to my knowledge not a single one of them has had a hydrogen explosion. Why in God's name would you want to transport hydrogen when you can generate it on demand from water and electricity. This is the approach taken by the hydrogen filling stations in Iceland. We're actually pretty good at transporting electricity and water.

Brilliant plan. I hope they manage to pull it off. I'd be willing to have an around town car that I could fill at home, or even a neighbor's house, eventually.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Japanese car manufacturer Honda has begun the first commercial production of a zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle.

The four-seater, called FCX Clarity, runs on electricity produced by combining hydrogen with oxygen, and emits water vapour.

Honda claims the vehicle offers three times better fuel efficiency than a traditional, petrol-powered car.

Honda plans to produce 200 of the cars over the next three years.

One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel-cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.

Critics also point out that hydrogen is costly to produce and the most common way to produce hydrogen is still from fossil fuels.

Analysis of the environmental impact of different fuel technologies has shown that the overall carbon dioxide emissions from hydrogen powered cars can be higher than that from petrol or diesel-powered vehicles.

'Monumental step'

The first five customers are all based in southern California because of the proximity of hydrogen fuelling stations, Honda said.

US actress Jamie Lee Curtis will be among the first to take delivery of the vehicle, the firm added.

The car will initially be available for lease rather than purchase in California, starting in July, and then in Japan later this year.

It is being built on the world's first dedicated production line for fuel-cell vehicles in Japan.

"This is an important day in the history of fuel-cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel-cell cars will be part of the mainstream," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda.

Honda says it expects to lease a few dozen units in the US and Japan in 2008, and about 200 units within three years.

It said the cost of the car, on a three-year lease, would be $600 (£300) a month.

The FCX Clarity is based on Honda's first-generation hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX concept car. Honda delivered around 34 of these cars, mainly in the US, of which 10 remain in use.

Booming demand

Many car makers are developing cleaner, more economical vehicles because of high fuel prices and as consumers become more concerned with the environment.

Toyota said it was struggling to keep up with booming demand for its hybrid vehicles because it was unable to make enough batteries.

Hybrid vehicles, such as Toyota's top-selling Prius, switch between a petrol engine and electric motor.

Toyota Motor Corp's executive vice president, Takeshi Uchiyamada, told the Associated Press that new battery production lines could not be added until next year.

"Hybrids are selling so well we are doing all we can to increase production," he said. "We need new lines."

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest car maker said on Monday it wanted to produce a Golf which consumed three to four litres of petrol per 100 kilometres compared with 4.3 litres currently for the most fuel-efficient model.

"In the next few years, we are not going to do without petrol and diesel motors, but the future belongs to the electric car," VW chairman Martin Winterkorn told German newspaper Bild-Zeitung.

You can see how this Hydrogen (protron exchange) fuel cell works

Still I would say dont get disappointed because your car doesnt run on water, there is technology available for your old car to run on Water.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water.

The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car's tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car. Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

Have you ever wondered why H2O water powered cars have never been marketed by U.S companies? Maybe the word OIL comes to mind!

Now the Japanese are marketing H2O cars. Please don't tell me that America will be buying H2O cars from Japan, when this simple technology has been available for decades!!!

But still you can make your own old car H2O water powered cars with this manual. Its very easy to follow and its working out very cheap as well. So this way you can run your own car on water as well. Main thing is this it will be environment friendly.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

To install an Oxygen Sensor Enhancer, follow the installation instructions that come with EFIE if you got the enhancer from Eagle Research.

If you made it yourself from the plans given in document “D17”, follow the tuning and installation instructions in that document.

“D17” or actually D17.PDF, is number 17 in Patrick Kelly's free energy collection of patents and plans. It's title is “Dealing With The Vehicle Computer”.

It is available on the Internet: search Google for “Dealing With The Vehicle Computer” including the quote marks.

I built one but decided not to mass produce it. If you want to build one but cannot find the document, please email me. Bill Lang found that in China they would make it for you for $3 apiece if only you'd order 1000 pieces. So if $3,000 sounds like a good business investment, go for it. It's definitely in very high demand, and rising!